Down and Out Books
March 4, 2019
Life is all about decisions. Some decisions you get to make, others are made for you. The characters in E.A. Aymar’s thriller, THE UNREPENTANT, are all dealing with the consequences of decisions. Mace Peterson stumbles upon two men in a wooded area taking a woman out of the trunk of their car. He needs to decide if he is going to help the woman or mind his own business and walk away. He decides to step in and ends up rescuing Charlotte Reyes, a kidnapped teenager who has become a victim of sex traffickers. This decision forces Mace, Charlotte, and those around them to fight for their lives.
THE UNREPENTANT could be a story of a woman retreating into herself and doubting everything she does and dealing with her soul-crushing feelings of powerlessness. Charlotte has been a victim of molestation by an uncle and then repeated sexual assault by strangers after she was kidnapped. The entire time she knows that she deserves better than what is happening to her and is determined to get out. Charlotte decides to fight against everything that’s been done to her to get justice. She draws on her instincts and mixed martial arts training to get her revenge.
Aymar has succeeded in creating some irredeemably bad guys in THE UNREPENTANT. A pair of brothers, Will and Dave, will do whatever they can to avoid going back home to their abusive and overly religious parents. They start dealing pot at a local college because the money is fast and easy, until their supplier comes to them with a proposal to earn even more money with supposedly less effort. All they need to do is keep a woman, Charlotte, chained up in their basement for a few days. They’ll even have help from a crooked cop to make sure no one interferes with their operation. The ringleader, a man named Barnes, preys on everyone around him for his benefit. He takes advantage of Charlotte trying to restart her life after leaving her abusive uncle, the brothers trying to escape their parents, and the cop trying to make extra money. Barnes doles out swift and unexpected violence on anyone that crosses him.
Aymar handles the sex trafficking plotline with respect. He doesn’t glamorize the violence and abuse suffered by Charlotte, but he doesn’t gloss over it, either. The abuse she endures serves as her motivation, and the bad guys get what’s coming to them. The themes of sex, violence, and the depths humans can dwell in are examined within the pages of THE UNREPENTANT. Aymar takes these unpleasant pieces and creates an unputdownable thriller.
THE UNREPENTANT is a story about the consequences of the decisions people make. An uncle chose to take advantage of his niece. Another man chose to use that women to earn money. And that woman chose to save herself in order to take back control of her life.
Kate Malmon
